B.C. club curling challenge opens house

The BC Club Challenge, run by Curl BC for men’s and women’s club teams, is back with a few new rules aimed for increasing participation.

B.C. is joining several provinces in piloting an open registration format for the Club Challenge, meaning that any number of teams from a club can enter their respective regional event provided that they meet the eligibility requirements.

Clubs can still send their declared champion to their respective regional event if they wish, but other eligible teams from that same club can also enter. The women’s and men’s events will each have 12 berths. One of these 12 berths will go to the BC Club Challenge host club, and the other 11 berths will be determined through seven regional events.

The Mainland event will determine three berths, with the Island and Okanagan events each determining two berths. There will be two competitions in the Kootenays and two events in the North in an effort to address the geographical and environmental challenges related to travel in those areas, with each spiel determining one berth.

The regional competitions will go Feb. 8-10 with the BC Club Challenge scheduled for March 21-24 in Abbotsford.

“We are excited to pilot opening up the regional events to more club teams,” said Curl BC Competitions Manager Will Sutton. “Our goal with this change is to increase the number of grassroots teams participating in these events. Expanding the BC Club Challenge to 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams recognizes the geography of our province and gives us the opportunity to offer new regional events in the Kootenays and the North.”

The top three women’s teams and top three men’s teams from the BC Club Challenge will receive a berth to the Pacific International Cup (PIC), April 17-21, in Richmond.

If these teams opt out of participating in the PIC, the opportunity will be offered to the next best BC Club Challenge finisher. Should there be no provincial teams available to attend the PIC, then the PIC berth(s) will be randomly drawn from all regional competitors.

Also new this season is that all teams that register regionally events will receive access to curling development resources such as Curl BC’s High Performance webinars.

In addition, teams that progress to the BC Club Challenge will receive player development opportunities.

Curl BC will release information regarding the 2019 National Curling Club Championship later.